David Ayer (Fury, Suicide Squad) directs this revenge flick written by Kurt Wimmer (Salt, Expen4bles) about a mild-mannered beekeeper named Adam Clay (Jason Statham) who turns out to have a been an operator for a clandestine organization called Beekeepers, that rights wrongs. After his friend and neighbor is fleeced by a phishing scam and commits suicide, he exacts his revenge on the company responsible, killing his way right to the top. (105 min.)
Glen: I like Jason Statham, though apparently not as much as he likes a paycheck. Many of his choices over his career seem suspect, and I’d file The Beekeeper with his dumber films such as Ghosts of Mars (2001), Wild Card (2015), and The Meg (2018), the latter of which is arguably a guilty pleasure because it’s so dumb. The Beekeeper isn’t quite bad enough to be good. The story’s sappy and implausible; the dialogue and beekeeping references feel inauthentic and forced. Even the fight scene choreography is so-so. The film is essentially three big set piece fights as Clay kills his way to the top. Even the presence of co-stars like Jeremy Irons, Minnie Driver (whose talents are totally wasted here), and Phylicia Rashad can’t save this middling action film that’s worth a stream when it comes out for free if you’re a fanatical and undiscerning action fan.
Anna: I love a guilty pleasure action flick, and I was hoping The Beekeeper would fit that bill, but unfortunately the “pleasure” part was left out all together for me. Statham’s swarthy grumpiness usually proves entertaining and endearing, but there was very little chance for him to shine in this. His motivations are fairly weak to go on an all-out kill fest, the dastardly bad guys are trite caricatures, and the ending fails to satisfy the story in any meaningful way. I’ll rewatch The Meg over this any day. Heck, I’d watch Meg Two: The Trench again over this. While I’m all for encouraging people to see films in the theater, this fails to entertain enough to cover the price of a discounted ticket. I did hear some college-aged dudes leave the theater ranking it “a 7.2,” so clearly there’s an audience out there that got more enjoyment out of The Beekeeper than I did, but don’t go into this film thinking that Statham can save the day here—there’s just not much to work with besides an explosive budget.
Glen: We both might be the odd ones out. Critic (68 percent) and audience scores (93 percent) are high on Rotten Tomatoes, but for me, meh. And I love a good vigilante story, usually about an everyman (or woman) forced to draw deep into his (or her) well of outrage to exact justice, but honestly, Clay is such an impenetrable badass that he never feels imperiled. It doesn’t matter how many armed men stand before him or whether he’s armed or barehanded, they never stand a chance. That lack of danger just sucks the wind out of this story. I too usually encourage people to support movie theaters before they disappear altogether, so go—but if you think The Beekeeper is as bad as I did, remember I warned you.
Anna: I definitely didn’t buy into the storyline around beekeepers and what their role in the world is, so that’s a hard start. There are a lot of films in this genre that are so deliciously ridiculous you almost can’t help but jump on and enjoy the ride. This one just didn’t do it for me, and instead of having a good time with the ridiculousness going down on-screen, I mostly found myself rolling my eyes. Let’s hope the rest of the audience had more fun than I did.
Senior Staff Writer Glen Starkey from the Sun’s sister paper and freelancer Anna Starkey write Sun Screen. Comment at gstarkey@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Jan 18-28, 2024.